Pictures, from top: Downtown Chicago skyline from the Shed Aquarium, skyline from the boat, Captain in training, Captain Bob, Bob and Vicky, Chicago Trail System, Illinois state line - no sign...
Michael's Diary, continued - from Wisconsin into Illinois;
So there I was cruising along on country roads, no cars to mention and then suddenly everything changed. The roads were suddenly full of cars and trucks and the shoulders were not only gone but the edge of the road dropped off three to eight inches and looked like something had been chewing on it. I had entered Northern Illinois. I did not see a state sign and had to ask a guy-walking by if I was indeed in a new state. I was. This would be the beginning of a bit of an epic. So there I was on this road from hell full of cars and nowhere to go. I decided that my best course of action was to ride as fast as I could and not think about the cars until I got to better roads. I think the method worked well as it kept my momentum high, which was useful for shooting off the side of the road into the deep gravel shoulder when a semi came by. I was very thankful for my bomber tires I have been many many times before on this trip. They are holding up and just might go the distance.
After about 10 miles of this I reached a town where there were some road options as in more than the one I was on. Unfortunately none of theme were all that great. So I looked at the map and pretty much threw a dart for which road to take next. I actually rode on the sidewalk for a long time, not ideal but the best option at the time. Luckily I ran into a local guy who was sitting next to his bike. I asked him about the best way to get to the eastern center of Chicago and he directed me to a trail network that supposedly would do the job. So after finding the trail I thought I had it made. The trail was packed decomposed granite, heavily forested and totally free of cars and O yes there were mosquitoes a plenty. So I am riding down this trail for a long time and suddenly it ends. Apparently a section of the trail was closed so I found myself in northern Chicago-ish area with only roads packed with cars and it was starting to get dark. I had also ridden around 100 miles at this point.
Once again I asked for directions from a guy on the trail and I was off. I found that as a general rule, roads in Chicago are not built with bicycles in mind as there were never any bike lanes and the shoulders if marked were pretty much non-existent. So I resumed the high speed or at least high speed for a very heavy bike ridden by an increasingly delirious guy method and headed east for the Lake. I actually practice critical mass of one and took what I had to have of the road. This reminds me of a lesson I learned on this trip about riding on roads with little to no shoulders. Never give up space by moving into a wider shoulder area or into a turning lane, etc. that you will have to suddenly regain. This is dangerous, as you have to effectively push your way back on to the road. You have to hope the cars see you and that they will yield a foot of road if they even can.
So there I am getting close to the lake, feeling pretty groovy, and it is getting much darker. After consulting the maps again, which I did more in Chicago than any where else so far on this trip I realized or thought better, that I was still about 25 miles away from Kristin's dad's house. Feeling adventurous I pushed on. Finally I arrived at the lake and headed south through a maze of roads that wound through endless neighborhoods most of which in this part of town were well, unbelievably affluent. I mean holy crap. But no people to be seen anywhere. I was shooting for a town called Evanston. Then it got interesting. The darker it got the less able I was to read the street signs, which were generally obscured by tree branches and leaves. So I made a few wrong turns and ended up at a golf course, then a park then a quite neighborhood at an intersection of five roads, of which amazingly none were shown on my detailed map of the area. I headed east. So now it is very dark, I am only sure of my cardinal direction, I have some how lost a very big lake as a land mark and oh what is that but a very large, very black, very gnarly storm cloud moving in quick. I actually had seen the storm front earlier but thought for sure it would hold and that it was not to bad as I could only see it's far edge. It was at this moment that I should have taken Bob and Vickie up on the offer of a ride to their house. So I pulled over on the sidewalk pulled out my phone, which served as the cutting of the ribbon for the storm to begin. I was suddenly very wet and surrounded by lightning strikes.
As it was raining very hard now and dark I decided to hang out under a dense tree branch in someones front lawn. Yes I am fully aware that being under a tree during a lightning storm is not the thing to do. However as I could not see the road due to the rain and the cars likely would not be able to see me and I would be the tallest thing in the road I opted for the lawn under a branch of the shortest tree around. The lightning was so close that it would buzz and pop less than a second before it hit at the very moment you saw the flash. This was great moment to re-invigorate my fatalistic view of life and make peace with what ever was to come. I was smiling the whole time as it was the best and only thing to do really and hey beyond the fear of being hit by lightning this was really cool. The rain lifted a bit and the lightning passed so I headed off to find the meeting spot that Bob had suggested. A second or another lesson of the trip, when asking directions find someone that does not have a guessing confused look on their face. I did not do this and ended up doing a ten-mile loop through Evanston to arrive back about half a mile from where I had originally asked directions. Finally I met up with Bob and gladly jumped in the car taking my first ride of the trip. The visit was great. We ate a lot and I pretty much just lazed around while Bob and Vickie were at work. In the evening we went out on their boat and saw the city from the water at night. Pretty cool. I even got to drive. I also went to the Shed an aquarium in Chicago and saw a lot of fish and whales and otters and endless other water creatures.
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